Ranking Piano Pieces from Easiest to Hardest (Ft. Sophie Oui Oui)

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[tea_and_music]

"Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of OneSet Piano" - Sophie nailed the intro 🤣

[simplytwosetter]

I really like Oui Oui's calm tone and clear explanation of her thoughts. This is sort of like a music professor discussing questions with two mischievous but talented students lol

[MusicalBasics]

I love how Brett and eddy were more concerned about balancing out the tier list like a construction project

[Jwmt]

15:15 Hammerklaivier is definitely Ling Ling level.
It was for a long time a piece seen as the bashings on a keyboard by a composer going mad and deaf until Liszt some many many years later played it at a solo recital and suddenly for the first time many could see the genius of the piece.

If you need the worlds greatest ever pianist to show the value of a piece, I think it safe to say its Ling Ling level.

[Khyathi_Gnan]

Sophie is right. Playing is fairly easy, but playing it well is really difficult. That makes a lot of difference.

[fatpun]

I found that both Sophie Oui Oui and TwoSet value musicality more than technical difficulties, which makes a huge difference between the educated and the normal audiences. Fascinating, fascinating.

[sharonwong]

I like how Sophie showcases the difference between playing and MASTERING pieces. It gives a good insight into someone who is at a high skill level and what matters at that point.

[Jim_]

“If you can’t feel the music, you won’t be able to play it well even with 40 hours a day of practice…”

This can’t be understated.
Sounds cheesy to non musicians…
But it’s incredibly accurate

[ummmmmmmmmmmnmmmm]

This list is only for really good pianists. If you're beginner or intermediate then technicality is going to be the biggest obstacle so playing something like moonlight sonata will be easier then la campanella. However once you get to the level where you can play almost anything, technicality becomes less important compared to musicality. For example La Campanella is very easy once you know it but something like Un Sospiro will never become "easy" no matter how confident you are in the piece. You can have unconscious competence in a technically difficult piece however when you play a piece where the melody is exposed and it is very well known then you have to be very intentional in your voicing and phrasing to ensure that it's not a snore fest. This is why Mozart is so difficult.

Another factor is stuff like hand size and flexibility. Sophie has smaller hands so she has an easy time playing Chopin Op 10 no 5 and probably has an easy time playing Op 10 no 4 as well because these pieces have extremely tight intervals where your fingers are on top of one another. Someone with large hands would struggle with these pieces but have an relatively easy time with Op 25 no 10 and Op 10 no 1. The Ocean and Waterfall etudes respectfully are extremely difficult if you have smaller hands to a level where you have to play in a completely different way. Chopin had small hands himself so these pieces were designed as exercises to train wrist flexibility however if you have large hands you don't need as much wrist flexibility. Chopin actually showed the waterfall etude to Liszt when they were both 19 and Liszt was able to sight read it immediately.

My point is that there are too many factors in piano so this list only really applies to Sophie Oui Oui. Even if you got to her level of piano your list would look completely different.

[cisium]

It seems there are three stages of musicianship. The bottom one one is where it is a technical challenge. The middle one is where technically easier pieces become proportionately harder musically, because you've realized you can't just "hide" behind technical execution. And the top one is where perfect execution is taken for granted, it's all about the emotional message, and the goal is not just to get to that stage but to _know_ you're there while you're there so that you can enjoy it. Personally, I would just like to be able to play an entire piece without once thinking, "don't screw this up."

[tuscan_raiderx]

Clair de lune is actually very hard dynamically, playing it well could be one of the more hard level challenges, along with the arpeggios in the middle

[geuros]

I'd like to add to the Rach 2nd Concerto as I read Bertenson/Leyda biography of Rachmaninov - the therapist was called Nikolai Dahl and he was also an amateur violist. Once in his lifetime, sometimes in 1920's he actually played viola in an orchestra that played this concerto one evening. Someone noticed his presence in the orchestra and after the performance he was persuaded to take a bow together with the conductor and the pianist and received huge ovations.

[floraf]

Sophie actually pronouncing Csárdás correctly brought me so much joy as a Hungarian

[thamthmit]

it's so satisfying to hear Sophie pronounce the names correctly!

[cloroxbleach]

I remember Mozart's K545 being one of the firsy few serious pieces I learned since I always heard about it being easy.

Well yeah it was easy to learn but being such a simple piece, any flaws are just laid bare for everyone to hear. I could never ever be satisfied playing it

[Visitkarte]

I have heard Pogorelić at his best playing Chopin‘s Piano Sonata Nr. 2. I was literally in tears. I feel so lucky to have witnessed that concert. It was after his „second place“ on the Chopin competition“ that caused a big scandal and he was at his best. Entire evening full with Chopin God Level.

[kiy]

I really enjoy Twoset because they are not just funny but they also introduce so many beautiful pieces and amazing composers! I don't play any instruments (only played Japanese harp for few years) and learnt basic music history at school but Twoset make classical music more reachable, fun and enjoyable in many levels. Plus I am learning English from them as a bonus point! I truly appreciate it!

[satchelhill]

Ondine and scarbo are insane pieces and they are so amazing. I pretty much have Ondine down. As for Scarbo, I have a lot of it but not perfectly. Still gotta practice all the repeated notes and arm crossing.

[ABC_Guest]

"The Lark" by Balakirev/Glinka is a wonderful piece, surprised they weren't familiar with it! I think most of it is actually pretty easy to play on the piano, but there are a few runs which are impossible for me, although I'm not that good myself.

[sampaguita_dew]

as a pianist, it’s all about telling the music’s story. i may be able to play all the notes accurately, but it is terribly difficult to share the emotions you get from the piece with the audience.
thanks for the video, enjoyable as always!